Hamegg stumbled upon the stable roof, Trashcan yelping and leaping in the air. Anyone could tell that he was yapping,
'I knew he wouldn't die! I KNEW IT!'
Hamegg just walked along the side of the building, looking towards the fight, seeing flings of black legs and blue energy. "How did that happen? He's so...SMALL!" he exclaimed. "Yeah he was a little strong, but...WHAT THE HELL?" he suddenly heard a small beeping from his pocket. With a look around to see the news helicopter out if his vision, he pulled out what he always carried.
The Energy Meter.
He held it up, walking around a bit.
Beep...beep...beep...
It picked up the energy from the building, beeping at a steady pulse. He turned towards the fight.
BEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEPBEEP!
"Holy!" he yelled. "Is that Astro?" Trashcan scratched his ear, waltzing over to Hamegg's side. "That sudden surge must have made him stronger some how..."
"Which is trouble for us." Hamegg jolted around to the sudden voice, holding the Energy Meter up as a weapon. If the police caught him, he'd be screwed. But, surprisingly, his sight laid upon Stone, his head out the floating car window. Trashcan's features immediately turned to hatred, his ears arching back and his eyes narrowing into slits.
"GRRRRR..." he knew this human meant trouble from the Robot Games, when he had took his Master away. Yes...he had come leg chewing to do..."GRRRR..."
"Stone? What are you doing here?" Hamegg blurted out, shoving the small device back into his pocket.
"I have a gift for you," he said, hoping out of his car and stepping past the small man without a glance. He stood proudly with his hands behind back, watching the fight move closer. Hamegg creased his eyebrows. He edged closer. "A gift?" he asked questionably. As an answer, he chucked a small remote to Hamegg. He took it with a frown, examining it. It was about as big as your everyday TV remote, it was white, and had many small buttons on it.
"What the hell is this?" he asked rudely.
"A remote."
"Well, I can see that!" Hamegg blurted. Stone twisted on his heels, walking up to him.
"I had the generosity to get this for you," he said, swiping the remote in the air, "To make sure Black doesn't win." Hamegg's mouth fell open.
"Why on EARTH would you want Astro to win?"
"Astro's not going to win, but Black isn't either. I hate that guy, he gets on my nerves..." he still couldn't make sense of what Stone was saying. He pointed to the remote.
"What does that do? What does it control?"
"Your own creation that you failed at controlling. Zoran." Hamegg stared at the small device with wide eyes.
"Z-Zoran?" his voice almost quivered. Stone rolled his eyes.
"Stupid man..." he leapt onto the edge of the skyscraper, pointing the controller at the fight.
Zoran skidded on her feet, poising herself to sonic scream at the BlackBott once again. Astro zoomed around the side of the killing machine, shooting his arm cannon that failed upon the shield. He held his head in dismay. "How do we destroy this thing?" he asked himself. Black was busy flinging his arms at him, letting out random bursts of evil laughs. Seeing one arm rising above Astro without him noticing, Zoran gasped. "ASTRO WATCH OUT THAT ARM IS GONNA-!"
"WHOA!" the BlackBott slammed down on the small robot, smashing him into the road. Astro bounced up, skidding deep into the concrete a few meters away. Zoran cringed. OWW. THAT HURT.
"Do I have to save your butt ALL the time?" she growled, running up to stop
Black, proceeding towards her crashed brother.
Stone grinned and pressed down on the controller. Suddenly, Zoran froze on the stop. She couldn't move. She couldn't do anything. She gasped out small grunts. "W-h-at...?"
Astro groaned and wiped the rubble from his face. He saw the BlackBott stepping forward, lifting heavy foot by heavy foot. "Well...this isn't familiar..." but, unlike the Peace Keeper, this time Astro could move out of the way in time. He flexed his arms and went to jump up and fly, but...he couldn't. Suddenly every limb felt like killing weights on him. He gritted his teeth, but couldn't shout out.
Hamegg looked to both the robots, then to Stone. "Hey...Astro can't move either!" Stone took a careless glance down to his arch enemy, then shrugged.
"Even better. Only need one robot to bring down Black anyway." Hamegg's brows creased.
It's just a machine, he told himself. Simply a robot. No feelings, no nothing...but then he thought other wise. The kids, his family, back in the orphanage. Killing Astro would break their hearts. And also...he owed Astro. He had saved him from Zog when he was a goner.
NO. This is wrong.
Astro's eyes widened as the huge foot rose above him. Black snickered as he slowly lowered it down to crush him. Zoran squeaked out a high pitch squeal.
"A-ASTRO!"
In a flash, Hamegg made a grab for the controller. Trashcan's ears perked up at this move. His tongue lolled out and his tail wagged.
'Go Master! GO!'
Stone flashed his eyes at him, struggling to reach out and grab hold of his prize. "What the hell are you doing, Hamegg?" he screeched.
"Give me the controller, Stone!" he shouted back. It turned out to be a battle, Stone turning so Hamegg was on the very edge, then Hamegg twisting and almost making Stone fall. His finger released off the button, causing Astro's rocket boots that he was desperately trying to activate to turn on at full blast.
"WHOOAAAA!" he went zooming away from the fight, but soon got his balance. Black raised and eyebrow to him.
"What the hell?"
Zoran's sonic scream blurted out, hitting the BlackBott on the back without Black noticing in time to activate the shield. He grunted as the force knocked the robot on its feet.
Hamegg strongly held the controller in his grasp, Stone leaning on the edge. "HAMEGG YOU BLASTED SOUL!" he yelled. Suddenly with a swing of his arm, Stone had swiped the device away from Hamegg. Quickly he sent a booted kick to his face, and Hamegg went down on the roof by his car. Stone grinned, victorious. "Just how did I know? You're WEAK, Hamegg! You have mercy for those who don't deserve it!"
Trashcan growled at Stone. But he noticed something. Something that rung a bell.
Human on edge of hole...human leaning in close...Trashcan jump on human! Human trapped!
Without waiting for another annoying word to escape his mouth, the small dog raced up, electricity running though his rusty legs.
"RUFF! RUFF!"
POUNCE!
The dog took a mighty leap and pounded his legs on Stone's chest. Without even a whisper able to escape...
Stone went falling off the edge. Silently, as if dead, he just fell. Hamegg leapt to his feet, running over with Trashcan to see the last of Stone, getting lost from sight as he fell into a pile of rubble.
Stone was dead.
Trashcan's mouth slid open in a dopey smile. "Ruff!" Hamegg, eyes wide, raised his hand and patted the dog quietly on the head.
"Good boy..."
One by one, each of the teens were climbing to safety. Zibby took the most moderating, having to be promised some new makeup if she did it. It seemed that it would take a little more practice for her to quit the Blondie act. Cora was the next up. She reached out and grabbed hold of his jacket collar, tugging on it to pull her up. Zane had to keep himself from letting go. "EEEE! CORA! CH-OKING..."
"Sorry Zane!" she called. Pressing her foot to Bruss' shoulder, she found her self slip a little. With a scream she grabbed onto Zane's shoulders, but found that someone had lifted her foot up. She glanced to Bruss, smiling at her.
"Watch yourself..." he said in a nice tone. She smiled back and continued to climb up. "Scavenger." he finished.
"Hey!" Cora laughed.
Soon enough, every one was crawling back through the vent, Stacy being very careful to where she was stepping down on. Something seemed different now. The tension was gone. Everyone was quiet but they all kinda knew they were thinking the same thing. Of course, Zane was the one to break the silence.
"Strange..." he said. They all flinched.
"What?" asked Bruss.
"No-one's fighting..." they were silent for a little longer.
"Yeah, well...you're no longer worth fighting with!" Bruss shouted. All anyone could do to that was laugh. Bruss shrunk down, knowing his tough act was seen through. Stacy looked down through a barred opening, to see a lab of some sort. She could only see a bit of a pale lab table and a polished blue floor. "Hey guys! We're here!" she called.
One by one they dropped down, until they were all standing around the lab, looking around. They found themselves spreading out a bit, admiring what came to their own likings. All that you could hear were 'Ooos' and 'Ahhhs' from the teens. Bruss slid his palm along the lab table.
"THIS IS PARADISE!" he heard Conner scream from the control desk with Ember. "I can't believe I'm in Dr Tenma's lab! DR TENMA!"
"So..." Bruss cooed. "This is where Astro...was created?" his eyebrows creased at the thought. It was extremely strange to think about it. Cora seemed even more disturbed, looking around the different blueprints. There were some for working robots, and some were of just normal appliances. She frowned when she saw a sheet with no label. She pulled out the corner of it, to see a design which was very familiar.
Two spikes.
She gasped and quickly covered the sheet up, resting her head on her hand for a second.
It wasn't that Cora was angry or sad, or scared that Astro was a robot. It's just that she didn't need the blueprints, the lab or the pure evidence to tell her what he completely was, or what was inside him. She knew he was more then metal.
The Blondies looked around the different screens, examining the temperature of the room and what not. Zane was busy pressing all the buttons on everything he could find. Ember swished past something that made her stop.
A cap.
A very familiar, red cap. She gasped and narrowed her eyes at what was labeled on the front.
MINISTRY OF SCIENCE.
"Conner! Look!" Conner looked at her, then walked over to see what she was gawking at. He soon was gawking with her.
Cora looked and frowned, joining with the rest of the people.
"Whoa! That's Toby's hat!" Bruss exclaimed. Cora shivered.
"Really?" asked Zane.
"You wouldn't find that cap on anyone else!" Ember replied.
"Oh my god! That's how he did it! Tenma got the DNA from Toby's cap! THATS SO COOL!" Conner grasped his hair in excitement.
"A little weird..." Lisa mumbled.
"You kidding?" Stacy squealed. "I love science!" the two Blondies frowned at her.
"Stacy...really?" Zibby asked. Stacy shrugged.
"I thought you wouldn't like me if I told you..."
"Thats fine in liking anything! Heck, I love Goth!" Lisa squeaked.
"Guys, talk about non-girly stuff later." Zane scowled.
"Conner, Ember...what was Toby like?" Cora asked. The two shared a look, then shrugged.
"I never got to know him." Ember said.
"No duh! How would like that loser!" Bruss taunted.
"Paying out the deceased? Low." Ember mumbled.
"There are some things the same with Astro...like, how they both like to help people," Conner informed.
"Yeah, Toby was a major teacher's pet!" Stacy giggled.
"GUYS!" Zane shouted over the chatter. Everyone looked to him.
"What?" Bruss snapped.
"Killer Virus! LETS GO!"
They all nodded and got looking. Zane went back to button-pushing, hoping one would open a draw. Cora rummaged through the different objects on the desks, Bruss checked under things and the Blondies chatted away. It was a breath of relief when they heard Cora cry out.
"HEY! I FOUND IT!" with a gasp they all raced over to her, eyeing the small chip she held.
"Cool!"
"Good work!"
"I could've found that..." Zane scratched his neck.
"Um, so like...what now?"
"Call Tenma," Cora ordered, shoving the red chips into her pocket. Conner got out his phone and dialed the number, putting it on speaker phone so they all could hear. Soon, after the third tone, a voice was heard.
"Kids?" Tenma asked, and you could hear the faint explosions in the background.
"Yeah its us! Hey, we got the Virus, but we're not sure what to do next," Cora informed.
"Are you kids alright?" Z's voice suddenly interrupted. Cora rolled her eyes.
"Yes, we're fine Mrs. Tenma."
"Z, please...okay, so you're gonna have to find a transporter to put the chips inside, then pass it to Astro and he'll stick it into the BlackBott and shut it down, okay?"
"Where are we gonna find something like that?" Bruss asked. Suddenly, the connection went.
"Hello? Hello? Dr Tenma? URG!" Cora groaned. Conner clicked the phone off with a grumble. "JUST WHEN WE NEED THAT VITAL PEICE OF INFOMATION!"
To cut them off from their moping, a large crash was heard from the other side of the penthouse. Sharing strange glances to each other, they made their way to the dining room. Everyone found themselves cooing at the luxury of Astro's house. It was sleek, shiny and as modern as you could get. Ember glanced to a door on the left, and entered without any word to the others.
What was in there was not as expected.
There was a huge smash though the wall, and steam was arising from the floor where something had skidded. And there, sprawled against the bed was Astro, rubbing his head.
"Owwwww..." he moaned. Ember's eyes widened.
"Astro?" she asked. With a jolt of his head, Astro looked to her.
"Ember?" he gasped out. Stacy's head poked into the room.
"ASTRO!" she screamed. "HEY GUYS! I FOUND ASTRO!" she called. Ember crossed her arms and rolled her eyes.
"Oh brother..." Soon everyone was at the door. Cora raced forward, tugging on his shoulder and helping him up, as much as her hands steamed on his burnt body. "Thanks Cora," he praised, holding one shoulder as he looked to the people.
"Did you get-"
"Yeah, we got the virus," Cora said, taking them out of her pocket. She held them up. "See?" Astro moved away.
"Not near me, please..." he whimpered. Nodding in understanding, Cora shoved them back in her jeans.
"Astro," Conner started, walking forward, "We have to get a transporting thing for the chips to be transferred to the BlackBott. Do you know anything?" Astro frowned, looking to the ground. After a while his head shot up.
"A dis-power machine!" he cried. Everyone tilted their heads.
"Huh?" Zibby said, confused.
"Wasn't that the thing that shut you down before?" Bruss asked. Astro nodded with no hesitation.
"If you place the chips in there, then I could stab it into the main control board when Black is distracted and win the fight!" they all stared at him.
"...Where are we gonna get a dis-power machine?" Zane asked.
"Miss Harris was the one who had one, but-"
"Then go get Miss Harris!" Astro cut Conner off. Their mouths dropped open.
"WHAT?"
"Never!"
"I hate her!"
"Guys!" Astro called them to silence. "This is no time to complain! Go get the power machine from Miss Harris and then get it to me as fast as you can! Please!" they all looked to each other.
"AASSSTTROOOO!" Zoran screamed from the fight. Astro cringed.
"I really gotta go," he mumbled, walking up to the hole in the wall and getting ready to fly off.
"Astro!" Cora called, running up. Astro looked to her.
"Hmm?"
"DON'T DIE." She ordered. Looking into her stern ice blue eyes, Astro chuckled.
"I don't have a choice, do I?" Cora smiled.
"Nope!" Astro looked to the fight with the BlackBott, his eyes turning to ones that bared determination.
"Thought so..." and with that, he was off.